Temp

My bit of Cambs is clay. We got away with deepish trench foundations. House along the road opted for piles that had to be very deep. 16C Cottage between us probably has almost no foundations.

Actually my drawing is missing the perimeter insulation that would be between screed and track.

That almost looks too strong 🙂 I think wall blocks are 2.4N/mm^2 to 40N/mm^2 where as that 310 N/mm^2. Perhaps they measure it differently. I would ask the door supplier what they recommend for the location marked with an arrow below. Does it have to be block work or can it be some sort of insulation and what strength? My guess is they will say blockwork.

Perhaps someone makes a foam filled aluminium extrusion you could put under the track to support it and provide thermal isolation?

I think the compact foam is their attempt to stop thermal bridging. Ideally you would extend the insulation you are putting on the B&B under the track but I suspect it needs more support. Ask the company if you can used a wider and thicker foam?

How is it different? Looks like you are building an insulated cavity wall? No?

The same water goes through the boiler, into the store and out again to UFH manifolds. So no heat exchanger for the UFH. Although the water is the same, the two sides of the store are independent. If a room stat calls for heat hot water is taken from the top of the store and returned to the bottom. The boiler is controlled by a stat on the store and only fires up when the store cools enough. This set up means every room can have/has its own stat/zone. No risk of the boiler cycling when just the bathroom UFH is calling for heat. The above circuit is vented via a small expansion tank in the loft. This worries some people but hasn't been an issue. The circuit is dosed with Fernox F1. There is a heat exchanger for the DHW. Mains pressure cold goes through an external heat exchanger on the store and off to the taps etc. In fact we have two heat exchangers, one is dedicated to a rather high flow rate shower. It's probably the best shower experience we've ever had. The heat loss from the thermal store, all the UFH manifolds and pumps is quite high. Would be an issue in summer if not in its own utility room. The TS could be better insulated.

Our Grant Vortex feeds a 300L store and that feeds UFH and DHW. The dial on our Grant boiler does not set the flow temperature, it sets the maximum flow temperature at which cycling will occur. What happens is the store calls for heat and the boiler fires up. The flow temperature starts rising until it hits the temperature set by the dial (which is unmarked). The burner (but not the pump) then shuts off and the flow temperature falls until the boiler decides to relight the burner. This cycling continues until the store is satisfied. I found the best way to run it is to ensure the dial on the boiler is right up. Then crank up the boiler pump speed so that the flow temperature never gets hot enough to trigger cycling. The burner runs continuously until the store is satisfied. The pump has to be fast enough and the return temperature low enough so all of the power is sucked out of the boiler. If not the flow temperature rises until the dial limit is reached and cycling occurs. I was recommended to fit a mixer in the boiler return so that the return is kept above 40C. This uses some of the boiler flow to heat the return but it only kicks in if the store is cold (eg after a holiday or first time heating is turned on).

The manual for our old Grant Vortex says the return to the boiler needs to be above 40C (to stop corrosion) and below 50C (to ensure condensing).

Trying to get my brain around this. Thinking aloud.. So let's say the PV is generating 1.7kW and the house has a demand of 1kW. With the Iboost Tank Cold... tank uses 0.7kW, house uses 1kW, Export is 0kW. Tank Hot... tank uses 0kW, house uses 1,kW, Export is 0.7kW With the proposed system... Tank Cold... tank uses 1.7kW, house Imports 1kW. Tank Hot... tank uses 0kW, house uses 1,kW, Export is 0.7kW. So the overall effect would be to import energy to heat the tank faster?

Yeah so 25W continuous is 600WH or 0.6kWH per day. That's not as bad as some. Equivalent to five LED downlight bulbs on continuously.

If this will be on your side of the boundary take a look at the Paving Expert website (especially check the index). Looks of details in how to build everything related to paving and driveways. Apart from the base the next most important is lateral restraint for edges and corners. If it's in the public highway side you will need to find council/highways guidance. Same dept as for dropped kerb applications probably.

What happened to this thread when I wasn't looking.

Yes but unfortunately that's not evidence that you/previous owners and your/their tradesmen have actually used the route for 20 years. At best it suggests those other house owners might be able to establish their own rights but that doesn't directly give you any. You really need something more substantial like letters from the previous owner of your house saying they and their builder, gardner, window cleaner, painter etc all used the route to bring a wide variety of materials and equipment to your house for at least 20 years and nobody ever raised any objection or blocked the route. For the whole of that period.

What sort of proof? If its any good (dated photos?) I suggest you send copies to his solicitor. Say these area just examples of some of the evidence you would present that a right of way exists.

Given you have another route I would make things awkward for him. Keep writing letters to his solicitor to run up his bill as others like @redtophave suggested. I would also tell neighbours upstream what this neighbour has done. If by chance one of them has already got the legal position formally sorted then that might help you do the same. I suppose they might even be able to instruct your builder to act for them when transporting materials. Warn your builder he may have to use the harder route - that way he should take that into account when he quotes and not raise the price later if the neighbour objects.

Just wanted to make sure you understand that whatever this person or other neighbours used the route for doesn't set a precident or give you any rights. Its all down to what your deeds say or what other owners of your house used it for, how long and if you can prove it. The awkward neighbour is in the same position (unless he is the very end house which you say he isn't). It would be possible for anyone nearer the highway to try and stop him crossing their garden on the same grounds. But if he was to prove he had a right in court that wouldn't necessarily give you any rights. The only exception to the above might be if a court was to decide this was actually a public highway or similar.

Yes you can do that.. Twin and Earth from CU (or previous on radial) to S1. 3 Core and Earth (Two switched lives a Neutral and Earth) from S1 to S2. Twin and Earth from S2 to the light. Twin and Earth from S1 to another light elsewhere. You can't go from S2 to another light with this set up as it only has switched lives. But if S2 is upstairs that wouldn't be a great idea anyway. Better to have one lighting circuit for each floor.

I'm quite surprised it has that much effect. If you have any left might be worth double checking that's the real cause not a batch issue?

OK so I asked the HMRC via their forum. My real name is Colin Watters. https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/vat/6dae6dbd-96f1-ec11-b5cf-00155d3bb152 Got answer.. Section 3 is mostly about the qualifying building.

https://toughenedglasssystems.co.uk/product/glass-juliet-balconies/ About £350 each +vat for 13.5mm nearest standard size. Never used them though. Now I think about it... does your quote include the fixings? They can be surprisingly expensive.

It's interesting that if you pay your builder to fill in the holes that were dug for a Site Investigation or percolation test then his work would almost certainly be zero rated 🙂 Not that this would really save anything.

Previous relevant thread.. VAT 708 has this bit.. That implies "site investigation" should be zero rated if you do already have planning permission.

Ideally you should get proper calculations done. But you only have one block above the window and you're probably going to be removing it to get the lintel in. So I'd replace that block with a lintel and a course of bricks. Propose a lintel depth that avoids cutting bricks or extra thick mortar. See if BC ask for calculations. The length of the lintel should be at least 300mm (2×150mm) longer than the opening. Round it up to next available length or perhaps the nearest whole or half block. Whatever is easier/available.